Services Supporting a Land Use Permit like definitions, environmental review process, lot legality background, and more.
Steps to verifying an address, applying for a road name or road abandonment.
The California Coastal Commission is the ultimate permit authority in the Coastal Zone of San Luis Obispo County. In other words, the County can issue development permits in the Coastal Zone, but the Coastal Commission has the ultimate say in how the County's Local Coastal Program (Title 23) is interpreted. Strong coordination between Department of Planning & Building staff and Coastal Commission staff ultimately benefits applicants, as they often need to obtain initial permit authority ("retained jurisdiction") from the Coastal Commission as part of the development permit process.
The PermitSLO (formerly Citizen Self-Service (CSS) portal) allows the public to interact with the EnerGov permit tracking and land management system. Through PermitSLO you have the ability to look up permit details, pay fees, and schedule building inspections. The systems also allows licensed contractors to apply for specific types of construction permits.
This glossary is provided to give general definitions for permit types and some of the terms commonly used in the planning process. Additional terms are defined in the county's general plan, Area Plans, Land Use Ordinance, Real Property Division Ordinance, Building and Construction Ordinance, and other related documents.
Department of Planning & Building staff reviews of all discretionary projects to identify, analyze, mitigate, and disclose their potential environmental impacts. This review process is conducted under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and when necessary, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and results in an environmental determination being made for the project.
Geologic reports are required for most projects requiring a building permit within a designated Geologic Study Area (GSA). GSAs include areas of seismic, landslide, liquefaction, erosion, and stability hazards.
The County of San Luis Obispo has adopted a Growth Management Ordinance that meters the number of residential dwelling units that can be built in the unincorporated areas of the county during any one fiscal year (July 1st - June 30th). Based on a growth rate of 2.3%, a total of 1,107 dwelling units can be built in in the unincorporated areas of the county during fiscal year 2017-2018. In order to secure the opportunity to build one of these units, a request called an "allocation" is required.
Land use permits require either a discretionary or a ministerial decision. The following land use entitlements can be processed with a land use permit application:
In accordance with California Assembly Bill 52 (AB 52), the Department of Planning & Building consults with Native American tribes regarding any project that is not exempt from environmental review. This consultation provides the most effective way for the Department to determine if a project could result in significant environmental impacts to tribal cultural resources.